Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] Modest early gains across the S&P 500 (+0.1%) and Nasdaq Composite (flat) pushed the indices to fresh record highs, while the DJIA (flat) is also little changed.

Sector strength has broadened since the open, with eight S&P 500 sectors now trading higher. The energy sector (+1.5%) holds the widest gain as President Trump's condemnation of Iran's latest peace proposal resulted in a bump in oil prices, with WTI crude currently trading $1.32 (+1.4%) higher at $96.74 per barrel.

The materials sector (+1.2%) holds a similar gain as chemical and precious metals names advance this morning.

Importantly, semiconductor names are also among the outperformers, pushing the PHLX Semiconductor Index 0.8% higher while the broader information technology sector advances 0.3%. Qualcomm (QCOM 233.05, +13.96, +6.37%) is one of the best-performing S&P 500 name, while memory names are also higher and NVIDIA (NVDA 218.01, +2.81, +1.31%) is a mega-cap standout.

Meanwhile, other "magnificent seven" names are mostly lower, which puts pressure on the communication services (-1.0%) and consumer discretionary (-0.7%) sectors.

Just released, existing home sales increased 0.2% month-over-month in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.02 million (Briefing.com consensus 4.05 million) from an upwardly revised 4.01 million (from 3.98 million) in March.